The US Supreme Court has granted an emergency request from the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to third countries, overriding lower-court rulings that had paused the practice on due process grounds. The conservative majority's unsigned order allows ICE to continue flights while the court prepares to hear oral arguments in December 2026. Over 25,000 migrants have already been expelled under the policy, drawing fierce condemnation from human rights groups.
Supreme Court's emergency order to resume deportations
- ▪The US Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on September 29, 2026, granting the Trump administration's emergency request to resume deporting immigrants to third countries
- ▪The Supreme Court's three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented from the September 29, 2026, decision in D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security to allow third-country deportations to resume
Questions for the upcoming Supreme Court review
- ▪Gillian Brockell said the Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in the third-country deportation case, D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, in December 2026, with a formal ruling expected by spring or summer
- ▪The Supreme Court's December 2026 instructions ask whether the district court had jurisdiction over respondents' claims and authority to enter classwide declaratory relief in the challenge to third-country removals in D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security
- ▪The Supreme Court's September 2026 order included a highly unusual instruction allowing the government to raise 'such other questions' it determines appropriate for the disposition of the case, D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security
Lower court rulings against the policy
- ▪US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled in February 2026 that the Trump administration's third-country deportation policy violates Fifth Amendment due process protections and immigration law procedures
- ▪The Boston-based First US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Brian Murphy's ruling on September 18, 2026, finding the Trump administration's third-country removal scheme unlawful
Arguments and mechanisms of the deportation policy
- ▪Immigrant rights groups argue the Trump administration's third-country deportation policy allows rapid expulsions without giving migrants notice or a meaningful opportunity to claim fear of torture or persecution in destination countries
- ▪The Trump administration utilizes third-country deportations to remove individuals whose home countries refuse to accept them, bypassing court protection orders that prevent repatriation to their homelands
Scope of the third-Country deportation program
- ▪Burundi signed an agreement with the United States on September 29, 2026, to accept non-citizen deportees who do not face prosecution and have no links to terrorism
- ▪The Trump administration has deported migrants to 29 countries under the third-country deportation policy, with the vast majority sent to Mexico
- ▪At least 35 countries have signed agreements with the Trump administration to accept third-country nationals, according to Refugees International and Human Rights First
- ▪The Trump administration has subjected more than 25,000 migrants to third-country removals since implementing the third-country removal policy in 2025
- ▪The United States has carried out third-country deportations to South Sudan, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, and the Central African Republic
Debatable claims
- ▪The Trump administration's third-country deportation policy violates constitutional due process
- ▪Deporting migrants to third countries without prior fear hearings poses unacceptable safety risks
- ▪The Supreme Court's procedural instructions in the deportation case grant the government excessive leeway
- ▪The Supreme Court's use of emergency orders to resume deportations undermines the judicial process
Story comments
Loading comments…